Red Rose and the Surripio
by NostalgicSymphony
Summary: Rose's first year at Hogwarts starts smoothly. With friends that she can trust, she's doing well at the school. Then, her friend is kidnapped, leaving Rose clueless; wasn't Hogwarts safe? As the mystery unfolds, Rose must find strength, and her friend.
1. Train Ride into the Next Seven Years

Rose looked around Platform 9 ¾. Funny how she waited forever for this moment but now, she wasn't so sure she wanted it. She'd even literally _dreamed _of going to Hogwarts. Everything was so different, so strange. At least she had _some _friends here. There was Rachel, Neville and Hannah's daughter, and Albus, her cousin. She took reassurance in the fact that they were there. She just hoped Hogwarts lived up to her expectations.

Suddenly, that was it. Rose felt herself being pushed onto the train and away from her parents, her family, her comfort. _No Rose, _she silently begged herself, _No crying now. Not in front of everyone, do you want everyone to think of you as the cry baby? No one cries on their first day of Hogwarts! Just think about… Food!_

"Bye Rose! We love you!" shouted her father.

"Be safe!" her mother added. Rose tried to call back but the farewell got stuck somewhere behind the ball of emotion in the bottom of her throat. She just felt all the more like crying; she wouldn't see her parents again for ten months and she didn't even give a proper goodbye. _It probably would have been lost in the noise of the platform anyway, _she comforted her_s_elf. She was still fighting the tears in her eyes when Albus and Rachel arrived.

"Hey, you! Aren't you exci-" Rachel frowned. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine!" lied Rose easily. "Let's find a compartment quickly!" She slid open the doors to the nearest one and plopped down at one of the window seats. Rachel and Albus slid into the seats opposite her and started chatting merrily.

"I want to be in Gryffindor! They get the best wizards, like our parents, and they're brave!" announced Albus.

"Honestly, I know Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were in Gryffindor and as was my dad but I don't know… I used to always dream about being that but I mean, bravery can only get you so far. What's the point of adventure if you have no one to share it with?" mused Rachel. "My mum was a Hufflepuff, you know. I'm actually thinking that that's where I want to be. What about you, Rose?"

Rose jolted out of a daydream of home at the sound of her name, "Huh, what? Which house? I… I don't know actually. I guess maybe… Well, my parents were from Gryffindor and my dad really wants me to go there…"

"What about _you_, Rose?" Rachel sighed.

"I don't know," Rose answered uncertainly and blushed. At that moment, the doors to their compartment slid open and a young boy with light blonde hair and pronounced cheekbones was standing there.

"All the compartments are full. Would you guys mind if I sit with you?" he choked out.

"You can join us, sure!" Rose offered welcomingly. "I'm Rose. Rose Weasley. This is Rachel Longbottom and Albus Potter."

"I'm Scorpius. Scorpius Malfoy," he informed them quietly as he sat down on the seat next to Rose. He seemed shy but after saying that, a little glimmer appeared in his eyes. "My dad told me all about the Potters and Weasleys! Harry Potter was the boy who lived himself and defeated Voldemort! Weasley was always by Potter's side, my dad said, and just as brave! He told me they even saved his life once. Oh, and their friend Hermione Granger who he said was your mum, Rose. I know she was the smartest girl my dad's ever met! He also told me all about Neville Longbottom, who I'm assuming is your dad, Rachel. Apparently he killed Voldemort's snake and was a real whiz in Herbology."

"Oh! That's really… nice of your dad! We'll be sure to tell our parents," Rachel said a bit awkwardly. "We've heard a lot of things about your family too!" Rachel and Rose looked at each other and mentally added _nothing good though. _Albus was oblivious to this; his dad had forgiven Malfoy's ways.

"Cool!" Scorpius seemed pleased with the answer. They talked and ate away the rest of the train ride. When the trolley with food came, Scorpius even bought treats for everyone. They laughed over their Every Flavour Beans and their Pumpkin Pastries. By the end, they knew Scorpius quite a bit and Rose had decided that there was nothing to her father's stories. Scorpius was friendly and likeable; he'd obviously been brought up well. The train skidded to a stop. They four of them looked at each other nervously then grabbed their trunks.

"Firs' years here!" Hagrid called. Albus, Rose and Rachel grinned at him. They'd met him before and thought him, well, awesome. Only Scorpius seemed a bit uncomfortable in Hargrid's presence. The others didn't have time to notice as they were being ushered towards boats.

The four of them quickly hopped into the same boat. The boats started out slowly but soon enough, they could see the great castle of Hogwarts looming out in front of them. Albus, Rachel and Rose gripped hands. Rose saw Scorpius' eyes glance at their grasped hands as he stood there awkwardly. Not wanting to leave him out, she took his hand in her empty one. They smiled at each other and Scorpius had a barely noticeable blush.

Still holding hands, Rachel, Albus, Rose and Scorpius made their way up the stairs to the main entrance and into the hall leading to the Great Hall. They'd all asked their parents and knew what came next. This was the moment of truth they'd all been waiting for. This was the moment when a _hat _would greatly shape their identities. They squeezed each other's hands tighter and tighter while exchanging skittish looks. Rose just hoped they were all in the same house.

They were going into the Great Hall now. Rose felt like hyperventilating. What was going to happen? Would everything work out? Nervous and stressed, she didn't hear anything that was going on. She was off in her own world, trying to find something to reassure her until-

"Rachel Longbottom."

Rachel marched up to the stool with the hat, her head held high. How could she look dignified? She sat down on the stool and the hat was lowered onto her head. Rose wanted to barf. Scorpius and Albus both looked at her a little worriedly and tightened their grip on her hand in reassurance.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat announced when Rose counted to three. Three seconds, it took the hat to decide the fate of one of Rose's best friends. Hufflepuff wasn't too bad though and it's what Rachel wanted. Rachel was kind, loyal and just, she'd fit right in. Rose still wanted to be in the same house as Rachel and she supposed Hufflepuff was pretty good.

"ScorpiusMalfoy!" was announced and too soon, Scorpius had to let go of Rose's hand. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…

"SLYTHERIN!" Rose's eyes followed Scorpius as he walked to the Slytherin table with his head held high in a little bit of defiance. Rose kind of wanted to be with Scorpius… She wouldn't mind Slytherin then, as long as she had someone. Rose stood with Albus, both petrified for a couple of minutes when-

"Albus Potter!" a couple of murmurs followed that one and Rose was left standing alone and trembling.

"GRYFFINDOR!" well now what? She wanted to be in the same house as all of them… What now? She thought Gryffindor was a good house too.

Now the minutes seemed to slug by… Name by name, it took forever… At the same time, it was all going much too fast. She didn't want to go but she wanted to get it over with bu-

"Rose Weasley!" Rose involuntarily let out a squeak. She was shaking as she went up and she imagined she looked small and oh so childlike. She felt the cloth of the hat touch the top of her head then slip down and cover her ears.

_Well, well, what have we here? A sharp brain and wits about you… You'd do very well in Ravenclaw, _the Sorting Hat told her.

_I want to be with my friends! _Rose thought desperately.

_ With your friends do you say? You'd rather be a house where you don't belong but with a friend? Well, if friends mean that much to you, maybe you better be Hufflepuff… You'd do well there, with friends and support but not as well as you'd do elsewhere._

_ Fine! _Rose yelled in her thoughts._ I mean, please just put me where I belong. Forget I said anything._

_ Then it'd better be "_RAVENCLAW." Rose winced as the hat's loud voice yelled out the last word. The professor took the hat away and Rose stumbled to the Ravenclaw table. They cheered and welcomed her; she could have certainly done worse. Still, she had no one in this house.

_Just my luck. I have three friends in three different houses and I "belong" in the one house where I have no one, _Rose thought bitterly to herself. She frantically searched for an empty seat and finally found one. She looked at the girl next to her. The girl had dirty blonde hair, deep sea blue eyes and was taller than Rose, with a dancer's body. Rose also noticed that her nose was rather small.

"Hey! I'm Star! Well, my full name is Star Jenna Smalley," she told Rose with a big smile. Rose was thinking to herself how white and perfect her teeth were when she continued, "What's your name?"

"Oh, I'm Rose Weasley," responded Rose.

"Wait. Are you Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger's daughter? I read about them in my history books for school!" Star told her loudly and excitedly.

"Yeah…" was all Rose answered.

"Sorry! I don't mean to be one of those annoying, in-your-face people. I'm just curious," at Rose's look, Star added. "I'm a muggle-born. I didn't want to not understand when people are talking about the magical world so I did some research on magical things and I read the history book."

"Oh! Well, that's cool," Rose relaxed and smiled a little. "My mum actually made me go to muggle school up till this year. She said it was important to learn about muggles and their ways. It was kind of annoying that I had to be in school while my cousins played quidditch and hung out but I did learn."

Star let out a sigh of relief, "Thank goodness! Everyone else here seems to look at me funny whenever I mention sports or activities. You know that Cinderella isn't a sickness, right?"

"Hah, of course I know that! Did a boy with jet black hair and glasses say that?" Rose smiled to herself.

"Yes, actually. How did you know?" Star looked utterly confused.

"Oh, haha. He knows it isn't a sickness. He's my cousin, James," Rose explained, laughing. "Ever since my mother told the story about how my dad thought Cinderella was a sickness, James has since asked if it was a disease every time Cinderella was brought up."

"Oh!" Star looked a bit embarrassed.

"Hehe, don't worry about it," Rose reassured her as the food appeared. "Great! There's mashed potatoes with gravy and stew!"

"Oh!" Star looked distraught. "I was so distracted I missed the Headmaster's speech."

"Don't worry, I heard it's usually just: Dig in," replied Rose through bites of food.

Star laughed and through the food they talked. Rose could already tell that she liked Star. They had the same sense of humour and the same likes. Maybe being in Ravenclaw really wouldn't be so bad.

"So bloated!" Star exclaimed at the end of the meal. Rose struggled to eat the last of her pudding.

"I'm going to explode!" agreed Rose. "Hey, look. The prefects are getting up." No sooner had she said that than the whole table rose to their feet.

"Well, that's our cue," Star rose off her seat and Rose followed suit. They hurried with the other Ravenclaws to the highest tower in Hogwarts and Rose started getting jittery. Every time she would see a window and catch glimpse of how high up they were, she felt nauseous. About three quarters up the tower, Star caught on that something was wrong.

"Hey, are you okay?" Star worriedly whispered. Rose nodded and closed her eyes for a moment. Star still looked worried.

"I'm just afraid of heights," confided Rose.

"Oh, don't worry!" comforted Star. "Hogwarts is really solid, there's absolutely no chance it'll fall." Star subtly moved to stand between Rose and the window in order to block Rose's view of it. Rose caught on and couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful.

They group stopped and all of a sudden the door, the _door _to the Ravenclaw common room started talking. It asked, "What is nothing?" The prefect, Rose hadn't quite caught his name when he introduced himself, responded with, "Everything."

"Well put," and the door swung open. Rose exchanged an excited look with Star. Her parents hadn't said anything about Ravenclaw having questions instead of a password! It was just so much more… Well, _cool._ Upon entering her new common room, the first thing Rose noticed was the books.

There were a bunch of bookshelves, shooting to almost the ceiling, which was pretty high up. There were all kinds of books; fiction and non-fiction, historical to sci-fi, informative to fun games, there were even muggle books. There was also a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw and the furnishing was of course in Ravenclaw colors.

"If you think that's a lot of books, wait till you see the actual library Hogwarts has got," called out the girl prefect with a grin. Rose was getting really excited now and she couldn't wait to read. She saw her expression mirrored in other first years and was glad to be surrounded by people who would understand her bookworm ways.

"First years, check the wall on the left of the door for your dormitories. Everyone to their dorms!" the boy prefect announced. Rose and Star slowly, but as quickly as they could, made their way to the list.

"Yes!" shouted Star then clasped a hand over her mouth. It didn't matter anyways, there was so much noise in the common room that no one heard her but Rose. "Rose, we're in the same dorm! Thank goodness! We're with two girls called Laira and Sam."

"Great!" Rose yelled back enthusiastically. They walked up the stairs to the girls dormitories and walked to theirs, the third from the left. With the house crest on every door, drapes hanging on the walls and the house colors everywhere you looked, it was beautiful to Rose.

Rose and Star stepped into their room. Laira and Sam were already waiting for them, both had dark chocolate brown eyes. Rose was pretty sure she remembered who was who from the sorting, even through her worries. Their eyes were the first thing Rose noticed. Then she noticed Laira's vivid red hair and freckles, both quite like her own. Laira's hair was shorter though and in an updo. Her freckles were also far more numerous. She was taller and had a happy, adventurous look about her.

"Yay, a roommate who also has gingervitus!" Laira whooped upon seeing Rose. At Rose's questioning look, she added, "Your red hair and freckles," and laughed. Rose couldn't tell if she was joking or not but laughed along. She liked the outgoing and the easy-going of Laira.

Then Rose looked at Sam. Shorter and with more of a baby face, she had long light brown hair. She also had some freckles. She seemed shy but friendly. Definitely not as outgoing as Laira, she just gave a little, "Hey."

"I'm Rose," Rose offered. "Rose Weasley."

"Star Smalley," chirped Star.

"So what kind of things do you like? What did you do before Hogwarts? What'd the Sorting Hat say to you?" inquired Laira eagerly. The four girls grinned at each other and so it began. They stayed up late their very first night of Hogwarts, getting to know each other and eating sweets.

It was when Sam yawned and announced she was tired that the rest of them noticed the same thing. They bid each other goodnight and a good one it was. Laira and Sam already shared a bunk bed so Rose and Star would share the other.

"I'll take the top bunk!" Star offered at once, remembering Rose's fear of heights. A few ladder rungs wouldn't have made much difference but Rose appreciated it all the same. She was comfortable, no, happy with her new friends. She was going to love Hogwarts. Rose put her face into the fluffy pillow and fell asleep smiling.


	2. First Classes on Getting By

Rose felt someone shaking her. _Whaa-_she wondered groggily. Something orange was flying around wildly. Oh no, wait. That was Laira and the orange blob was her hair. She was going to Rose, Sam and Star yelling something suspiciously like, "Guys, **wake up**. We have classes!"

One by one, Rose then Sam then Star sat up, all with confused expressions. Star muttered, "Let me go back to sleep." Laira looked at them all fiercely and whacked them all in the head.

"We have classes! You guys have to wake up on your own!" Laira's words jolted them all semi-awake. How late they had actually gone to sleep finally hit Rose then. She was so tired, all she wanted to do was curl back in bed. Her warm comfy bed…

Only Laira looked super awake. She looked at the other three disapprovingly then her eyes softened. She brought out three little vials of green potion.

"My dad thought we'd probably stay up late and forget we had classes the next day. He was always pretty good in divination but he insists it's all common sense," Laira informed them matter-of-factly. "Point is, he foresaw this and made me four vials of Wideye or Awakening Potion. Just drink up, you'll be bouncing around in seconds."

The three girls were each handed a vial and they drank up as they were told. Laira was right; Rose was already a bit more awake. She felt a jolt of electricity run through her then warmth spread all over her body. The potion seemed to have just, sort of, erased her sleepiness. Rose glanced at Star and Sam and was surprised when she saw that they actually looked alive again.

"That thing works miracles," Sam sighed out, relieved. Rose nodded her agreement. The girls all changed and got ready quickly, except for Laira who was already done and just sat on her bed waiting for them. She had, of course, picked the top bunk as the bottom was too boring or something like that.

In record time, the girls were out of their dorm and hurrying towards the Great Hall. Even as she was hurrying by everything, the Ravenclaw common room and Hogwarts still looked like Heaven to her. They finally made it to their table to eat and Rose felt like she needed another potion from all those stairs.

They began to eat when Rachel spotted them. Rachel never understood why the houses were so separated and picked up her stuff. She plopped down in the seat next to Rose, promptly starting to eat. Laira and Sam looked at her weirdly for a second then shrugged it off. Star didn't even seem to notice, she was so captivated in the schedules they just got. Rachel just ate her bacon and motioned at Albus to come over. Albus had already started to miss his two best friends and joined them.

From the Slytherin table, Scorpius noticed them eating together and laughing. He'd much rather be with them then the guy he was sitting with now. Scorpius wasn't quite sure what kind of person this boy was, he just knew that they were roommates. Nico, well, Scorpius thought that was his name anyways, was going on about some holiday to Canada when Scorpius cut him off mid-sentence.

"Nico?Erm, sorry but do you mind if I go sit at the Ravenclaw table? I'll catch you another day," Scorpius excused himself, already out of his seat.

"Yeah, that's fine!" Nico called after him and turned to the Slytherin on his other side. He resumed his story to the bewildered housemate.

"Hey," smiled and welcomed Rose as Scorpius approached.

"Mind if I join?" asked a strangely nervous Scorpius and he indicated the seat opposite of Rose. He guessed he was nervous because he made friends and wanted to keep them even if he was Slytherin.

"Of course!" Rose gladly took a seat.

"How do you guys like your houses?" Scorpius added a bit worried, "It sucks that we're all in different houses but we'll still hang out, right?"

"Obviously!" came from an indignant Rachel. "I don't see what's with the house separations. We're all human and magic, aren't we?" Albus rolled his eyes.

"Don't get her started," Albus huffed. "I, for one, _love _my house. They're brave and chivalrous. My roommates are great but I wanted to eat with you guys since I'll see them in classes and in the common room."

"I love my house too!" Rose told them animatedly. "The common room is beautiful and I met some great people!" She gestured to Laira, Sam and Star. Laira gave them a huge smile and Sam waved. Star seemed too fascinated with her food to notice Rose talking about her.

"Oh yeah, people and my house are amazing," admitted Rachel. "It'd be so much better to be as one but if it _must _be this way… I'm happy where I am."

"That's great," Scorpius said sincerely. He looked around quickly, "Umm, one of my roommates are alright. I didn't really get to meet my other two, we were all pretty tired and went to bed early. That's him though, Nico," Scorpius pointed at Nico back at the Slytherin table. The boy was scrawny with jet black hair falling in his face and a pointed nose. Nico had hazel eyes and a large mouth.

"He might not look like much," Scorpius added, "but he's really nice. He's pretty talkative too."

Rose opened her mouth to reply but Laira cut her off before she had a chance to start.

"Shoot guys! We didn't wake up early enough and we ate too long! We have to get to class and quickly!" Laira sounded spookily like a drill sergeant. "C'mon, it's double potion with Slytherins. Oh hey, Snake guy, are you with us?"

It took Scorpius a bit to figure out that by 'Snake guy' Laira meant him. When he realized he consulted his schedule and gave her a quick, "Yes."

Laira nodded thoughtfully. Rose, her roommates and Scorpius all quickly walked to the dungeons. They just barely walked in when the professor shut the door behind them. They sat at some of the last seats left, in the middle of the class to the left. Rose brought out her potion books and placed her cauldron. Once she was done, she decided to take in her surroundings. The room was dimly lit and had jars of who knows what on the walls.

To Rose's left, Star was also gazing around. Star had a '_what the heck is this?' _expression on her face and it was all Rose could do to not burst out laughing. Rose turned to her right where Scorpius was looking at the professor expectantly.

"I am Professor Zabini and you will address me as such," Professor Zabini began then paused. He seemed to have to remind himself to be kind to first years. "Potions will come easily to you as long as you follow the instructions properly. I won't bother with boasting or giving you the whole history of potions. Instead, I'll let you try your own potion so you can understand how making a potion truly feels like."

The door swung open. In the doorway stood a girl with an upturned pig nose, extremely light blonde hair and the most eyeliner and eye shadow that Rose had ever seen in one place. The teacher looked annoyed but merely ordered, "Find a seat."

The short girl saw the only free seat in the whole class, which was the seat right in front of Rose. She looked at Rose and perkily whispered, "Hey." Rose saw some bubblegum in her mouth. _What? _thought Rose. _Late to your first class and chewing gum?_

"Today you will be making," the professor paused once more. With a dry smile he continued, "You will be _attempting_ to make the cure for boils. Team up with a partner and begin."

Star turned to Rose but the latter shook her head. She tilted her head towards Scorpius and Star understood instantly. Scorpius was sitting with all of Rose's friends. It'd be hard for him to find a partner and he'd be shut out from the group if Rose didn't partner with him.

"Hey Scorpius," Rose caught the Slytherin boy's attention. "Partners?"

"Sure!" was Scorpius' relieved answer. Next to them, they noticed Star and the late girl teaming up.

"Put six snake fangs into the mortar," Rose read off the instructions that had just appeared on the board. "Mortar… What's the mortar?" Scorpius lifted up a little stone-like bowl.

"This thing?"Scorpius asked, just as confused.

"You guys don't know what a mortar is?" asked the small blonde with Star. She didn't seem hostile, just curious. "Who are your parents? Muggles? Also, what are their names?"

"Um, no. I'm half-blood. My parents are Hermione and Ron Weasley," Rose informed her. She thought something flickered in the Slytherin girl's eyes but in a moment, it was gone.

"My parents are Astoria and Draco Malfoy," Scorpius told her. "Pureblood. I'm Scorpius by the way, this is Rose."

"I'm Libby," Libby had a bit of a snooty voice. Then again, she was perfectly friendly. Who was Rose to judge people by their voice? "I'm a pureblood. My parents are named Pansy and Dante Bell."

"Err, Libby?" came Star's voice. "Aren't you going to help me with the potion?"

"Yeah, yeah," Libby probably thought it sounded assuring. "I'm coming." Scorpius looked at Rose and raised an eyebrow.

"So, I'm going to assume this _is _the mortar."

An hour later, Rose and Scorpius stood sweating behind their cauldron. It was supposed to be a light, almost see-through, water-like blue. Theirs had turned out more turquoise/green. However, trying to catch glimpses of other people's potion, they could see that their potion was probably the closest to what it was supposed to look like.

Star and Libby's potion was a puke green. It wasn't too far off but it was emitting a foul odor. Star looked annoyed. Libby looked a bit bored and Rose swore that if looks could kill, Star would have murdered the lazy-looking Slytherin. Star saw Rose's amused expression and turned to her.

"I'm not mad that she messed up. I don't get mad about that," Star hissed into Rose's ear. "I swear, ever since I mentioned I'm muggle-born she's been acting coldly to me and sabotaging our potion."

Rose was saved from having to reply by Professor Zabini who had started sniffing and peering at the potions. He made comments at most cauldrons he passed although at some he just gave unimpressed looks or wrinkled his nose. Rose and Scorpius kept exchanging nervous glances as the professor neared their cauldron.

Professor Zabini peeked cautiously into Rose and Scorpius' cauldron. The horrors he had seen so far made him reluctant to do any more than that. What he saw though impressed him.

"Don't get me wrong," Zabini started, "this is far from perfect. Although, it's not bad. Rather close for first years and seems you listened close enough to the instructions. You just heated it a hint too warm but potion making must be precise. All in all, it isn't bad. Keep it up Weasley and Malfoy and you two might be make fine potion makers yet. I can't be too hopeful though."

At Star's potion the professor paused and managed an unconvincing, "Not… bad." Scorpius and Rose were high fiving under the table and silently celebrated but stopped once they saw Star's face. They continued mentally whooping though.

"I just kind of wanted to make a good first impression," Star muttered with downcast eyes.

"Star, don't worry about it. There'll be other chances and who wouldn't be able to see how great you are?" Rose tried to comfort her. It didn't seem to do much good.

"Whatever. What do you have next?" Star changed the subject.

"Err, Star, we're in all the same classes. I have whatever you have next," Rose replied.

"Oh," Star checked her timetable. "Well then, you have flying classes with the Gryffindors."

"Oh great!" Rose whispered animatedly. "I'll get to see Albus! I wonder how his first class is going…" Rose had always been the most motherly of her friends, wondering how their school and sports were going or if they ate properly.

"I'm sure he's fine," Star stated matter-of-factly. "What does he have now again?"

"No idea," Rose shrugged. "Anywho, what do you have next, Scorpius?"

"Lemme check," Scorpius dug around for his schedule. " Slytherin."

"Cool! Tell me how it goes, alright?" Rose requested. "Tell me what kind of things you do!"

"Will do, Rose," he assured her. "Have fun with those flying lessons! I can't wait for those! Up in the air so high… With the rush of freedom and adventure, I'm sure you're going to love it."

Rose paled. Sure she was excited to see Albus and learn but she did have a fear of heights. If she got queasy walking up a tower, how bad would being up so high with nothing but a measly broomstick to support her be? Rose got a little nauseous so she quickly changed topics.

"So what are we doing for lunch? " Rose asked. Scorpius and Star both shrugged.

"I guess, what we did at breakfast?" Scorpius suggested. "We'll all sit at the Ravenclaw table?"

"Sounds good to me," announced Star. "You, Rose?"

"Sounds good to me too," decided Rose. The bell signaling the end of their first class rang. The three gathered their belonging and started to leave.

"Bye!" came from a cheery Libby.

"Bye Libby! I hope we'll hear from you soon!" Rose chastised herself mentally. 'Hope to hear from you soon' who said that? It sounded like they were chatting by owl and not in person.

"Oh, you will!" Libby somehow made those words sound upbeat. Star looked like any time she heard from Libby would be too soon so Rose quickly ushered her from the room.

At the end of hallway, the two Ravenclaw girls parted ways with the boy Slytherin. They wished each other good classes and exchanged 'see you later's. When Rose and Star headed in the opposite direction of Scorpius' transfiguration classroom, Rose was actually quite sorry to see him go.

Rose and Star joined other Ravenclaws as they scurried through the halls. They just tried not to be late and Rose's mind wandered. She was going to Flying Lessons, the class she'd been looking forward to the least. She remembered how even her mother had been no good at them and a sickening feeling settled in her stomach.


	3. Fly High

Rose quickly shielded her eyes. The sun in the sky was blinding and little bits still slipped through her fingers. She couldn't tell if it was the thought of flying or the bright sun that disoriented her. Maybe it was both. Rose just knew she had to get away from the door with Ravenclaws and Gryffindors streaming out or she'd get trampled on.

Which way was the quidditch pitch anyways? Maybe- oh. _Way to go, smart one, _Rose told herself. _Ever think it was the place where six golden hoops and stands are? Why'd the Sorting Hat put you in Ravenclaw? _Rose quickly walked to the field and realized she'd lost Star. _That's just great._

Rose cast her eyes skyward. What a glum feeling for the perfect day. The clouds were little cotton balls packed with extra fluff. The weather was perfect, not too cold but not too warm. It was the beginning of fall and the tops of the trees started changing to the vivid, fiery red that Rose thought was just beautiful in nature.

A hesitant smile rose to Rose's lips. _C'mon, _she tried to encourage herself. _It isn't so bad! You don't have to fly that high. Wouldn't it be great to be up there with the birds and treetops? _

"Ahh!" Rose screamed. She looked behind her at the reason of her yell. It was a grinning Albus who had just jumped on her as a joke. "Really, Albus?"

"Ha!" Albus laughed, "So worth it!" Rose just rolled her eyes and started walking again.

"Anyways," Albus continued and spun Rose so she was facing him again. "You need to meet someone."

Rose watched curiously as Albus suddenly realized that, like Rose, he had lost his friend amongst the crowd. He searched frantically and Rose was just about to leave for the quidditch pitch when he found him.

"Man, what'd you run off for?" Albus demanded.

"I just got pushed around," the dark haired boy explained. Rose took in his appearance. He had short dark hair, dark eyes and a broad build.

"Okay," Albus huffed. "Rose, this is Vince. Vince, this is my cousin, Rose."

"Pleasure to meet you," Vince greeted pleasantly.

"Uh, great to meet you too," Rose's greeting sounded awkward and messy compared to Vince's. Albus rolled his eyes.

"Vince is always that formal," Albus informed Rose. "I'm surprised he didn't call you m'lady like he did to Rachel."

"It's my knight training that makes me so formal," shrugged Vince.

"Knight training?" Rose inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah!"Albus confirmed. " He actually trains to be a knight. He even has a suit of armor and everything!"

"Wow?" Rose had never seen Albus so excited about what someone else did. Except the time he'd heard of his father's godfather's flying motorcycle, that is. Rose shook her head and ruffled Albus' hair affectionately. Out of everyone, she was most motherly of Albus.

"This is great and all," started Rose, "but you do realize that we're going to be late for class, right?"

"No, we won't!" Albus looked around and realized they were the only ones still on the path to the quidditch pitch. "Quick, run!" The trio started running and though Rose and Vince just met, they exchanged an exasperated look.

They raced in and turns out, they weren't late at all. Albus smiled breezily and told them, "See? We aren't late at all. Worry warts." Rose was starting to get nervous and nauseous again though and barely heard him.

"Hey, Rose?" Albus called tentatively. "Is everything alright?"

"Just," Rose muttered, "_great."_

"Rose? What's wrong?" Albus asked. Rose just kept staring at the mud and trying to get her stomach to settle down.

"Calm down, everyone!" a brown haired man yelled above the noise. _Tell my stomach,_ Rose mentally grumbled. The whole class went quiet right away, probably because they were all beaming with excitement on flying. _Who isn't excited to fly? _thought Rose bitterly.

"I am Professor Davies," he announced. "You can just call me Davies though, much more simple.

"I'm sure everyone wants to start flying so I'm going to make this short," Davies started the instructions. "Stand behind a broomstick. Any, quickly please. Now stretch your arm out and say, commandingly, mind you, 'up'."

Rose did as he said, "Up." She was, well, confused to say the least when the broomstick leapt into her hand at once. Looking around, it had only jumped into around 6 other people's hands including Vince. Albus, on the other hand, was looking at both his friends and his broom confusedly.

The feel and weight of the broomstick was so alien and it was even kind of disturbing. It was so out of her comfort zone and Rose hated it. She didn't want to touch the broomstick, be near it or see it. Rose looked up at the people who had started to fly and she felt sick. She raised her hand and waited impatiently for Professor Davies to come.

"I'm afraid of heights and I feel nauseous," Rose's eyes begged _Please don't make me do this._

"You can," Davies hesitated, "It'd be better if you tried but if you really can't then I suppose you can sit in the bleachers." Rose looked at her classmates laughing and starting to zoom around. Their faces were flushed and they looked so alive and free…

"Thank you," Rose took one more look at the freedom and rush of the others. If only she could gather up her courage… Rose put the broomstick down and walked to the stands.

The walk to the stands seemed to take forever. Maybe she was imagining it but she seemed to feel the gazes of the other first years. Rose was so sure she could feel the eyes of Albus burning a hole into the back of her head.

Rose sat down in the stands and tried to avoid looking at the flying class. She smoothed her robes and twiddled with blades of grass that reached her seat. The first thing she saw when she finally sneaked a peek was a student speeding straight for her.

"Rose?" Albus landed on the seats in front of her.

"First day of flying classes and you're already a pro," Rose smiled and tried to distract him. Albus waved the comment off impatiently.

"You know I've been flying for years," Albus studied Rose. "Everything okay?"

"Wonderful," Rose sighed. "Look, I just don't want to fly because-"

"-of your fear of heights," Albus finished. "I know."

"It's really stupid isn't it," Rose fixed her gaze on a crack in the benches. "I really wanted to fly."

"Hey," her cousin comforted softly. "It's not stupid. Don't worry, okay? Once you're ready, you're going to try out flying and be great. Just don't beat yourself up about it, alright?"

"Thanks," Rose smiled gratefully. "Look at this though. I'm ruining your first flying lesson! Go fly high for me, okay?"

"Hey, you aren't ruining my lesson!" Albus placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a jokingly intense tone, "You know you always brighten my day." Rose couldn't suppress a grin as she mock shoved her understanding cousin. The latter gave her a quick hug before returning to the air.

Rose watched him leave with a smile. She was really glad she had him in this class. _Thank God it's Albus and not Rachel! _Rose chuckled to herself. _Rachie is amazing but Albus has just always been the sensitive one, Rachel more… like mum says dad was._ Rose was imagining what would've happened had it been Rachel and not Albus just now when Star landed where Albus had been minutes before.

"How come you're not flying?" a concerned Star asked.

"Fear of heights," Rose explained.

"Oh yeah," Star looked at her with sympathy. "Are you sure you don't want to try?" She held out her broomstick.

"I'm sure," confirmed Rose firmly.

"Is there anything I can do?" Star offered without knowing what else to do.

"Yes!" Rose exclaimed, pushing Star towards the pitch. "I just had my self-esteem machine drop by, I'm fine! Go, have fun, be free!" Star started to fly away grudgingly, glancing backwards at Rose every couple of seconds.

Rose looked up and watched the others flying. She sometimes fixed in on one person and traced the pattern they drew in the air with her eyes. It was, in its way, beautiful. So much more so however, from the ground. She thought to herself that she'd come watch quidditch matches. Watching flying really was pleasant. Rose was happy though, she knew staying rooted with gravity was right for her.

Rose lay in her bed. She was reading a couple of pages in her history textbook that she'd been assigned as homework. She was actually quite baffled as to how many people didn't pay attention in that class. If you blocked out the ghost professor's dull voice and just read the text, it was quite interesting. Rose shut her book and sat up.

"Who, what, when, where?" Sam called, shooting up. The sudden noise of the huge history textbook had startled her out of her slumber. She looked confused at Rose, "What?"

"Haha," Rose laughed. "Go back to sleep, Sam. I'm just going to write my parents a letter."

"Okay, okay…" Sam snuggled back into her bed and was back asleep within moments. Stifling laughter, Rose exited her dorm and then the common room. The walk to the owlery was serene and pleasant. Walking in the castle alone, except for the occasional student, was calm and a perfect time to think.

Rose smiled. She liked it here. The castle was beautiful. Its outside seemed like building royalty, Rose found, and the inside seemed both timeless and perfect as well as homelike. The classes were great, other than the flying fiasco. Her favourite must've been charms.

The people here were pretty good too. She had her two best friends from before Hogwarts and now had met new, amazing people. _It's going to be a good seven years_, Rose decided. Almost two soon, Rose reached the owlery. _Oh. Maybe I should've written the letter before coming up here. No matter, _Rose realized, _I'll just write it here._

Rose brought out some spare parchment, a quill and an ink pot. She paused thoughtfully, thinking of what to write. Still thinking, and trying to not look out the window from this height, she dipped her quill into the ink and started writing.

_Dear Daddy, Mommy and Hugo,_

_ I'm doing great! You might be a bit disappointed Dad: I'm a Ravenclaw! I love the house though. It's really something here at Hogwarts! I had some of my first classes today, you guys know that though. The three that stand out most are potions, flying classes and charms. Charms is by far my favourite, I was the first one to levitate my feather! Potions was pretty good too; the professor seemed impressed with the potion I made with my partner._

_ Flying class wasn't as great. My fear of heights kicked in so I sat it out. Other than that, everything was great though! The Ravenclaw common room is wonderful, it already feels like home. Don't worry, I mean home away from home. My roommates are really nice. There's Star who's quickly becoming a friend of mine, Laira who's really outgoing and Sam who's a bit more reserved but great none the less._

_ Everything is just amazing here. I can already tell I'm going to love my seven years here. Hugo, I can't wait till you come join me! You'll love it too, I know it. To give you a little "taste" (hehe) I packed some __**heavenly **__chocolate chip cookies from dessert. Hope they're not crushed by the time they get to you._

_ How's everything with you guys? Is Crookshanks still alive? It's still weird that he's still alive from before mum's third year. Give him a good scratch behind the ears for me! I miss you guys! Can't wait till Christmas to see my family again! Remember that cat you promised to buy me if everything goes well till then? Just saying. Love you guys! Oh and by the way, I might be friends with Scorpius Malfoy. Also, he said his dad told him that you two and Uncle Harry were brave and heroes. Bye!_

_Love always,_

_ Rose._

Rose folded the letter and wondered what her dad's reply to her being friends with his school enemy would be. She found an alert barn owl and cooed for it to come down. Once the owl came down, Rose tied the letter, with the cookies, to the owl's leg and gave it a treat.

"Bring this to my family, alright?" Rose asked gently. The owl rubbed its head against Rose's hand, gave one last hoot and flew out a window. Rose watched it go, still trying not to look down, and marvelled at how flawlessly it flew.

Rose woke with a start. She was still in the owlery but she'd dozed off. Rose let out an unladylike word and checked her watch, praying that it wasn't past curfew. A sigh of relief came out when she realized that it wasn't curfew; but just by a couple of minutes. Still cursing, Rose ran out of the owlery and down the flight of stairs. She was out of breath but still jogging when she was down the stairs and going through the hallways.

_Please, _Rose semi-prayed, _let now __**not **__be the time when I meet the infamous Peeves._ Rose had barely finished thinking that when she almost stepped into a hallways containing, you guessed it, **Peeves.** His back was to Rose though and she had time to run to another path before he noticed she was ever there. Shaking but relieved, Rose took the longer but now surer way to her common room.

At last, two minutes past curfew, she ran into her common room. Thank goodness! She looked around her common room and realized that the blonde Ravenclaw in the armchair by the fire was actually Star.

"Hey Rose!" Star greeted. "Wait, where were you? I couldn't sleep. Fancy a game of wizard chess?"

Rose sat down in an armchair facing Star's and laughed, "I was sending a letter to my family and fell asleep. I was running, trying to get back before curfew. As for the chess, sure!"

"You do seem awfully sweaty," Star joked and set up the chess. They played for some time and Star won every game. Rose didn't mind; she always was rubbish at wizard chess. It must be her mother in her. Hugo was always the genius with chess, like their father. People often said that excluding her flaming red hair, Rose got everything from her mother and Hugo everything from his father. Maybe one day Rose would ask her dad how to really play chess.

They got tired and remembered they had class the next day. So Rose and Star packed up and headed to bed. Rose hadn't realized how tired she was; she was asleep moments after her head hit the pillow. She dreamed of classes and food but mostly, she dreamed of watching others fly.


	4. Know Thy Enemy

Rose sat down with Star at the Gryffindor table. There they joined their friends who had started eating without them. Both Albus and Scorpius looked like they were about to fall asleep face first into their food, if they weren't asleep already. Who knew? Maybe they were sleeping with their eyes opened. Looking at them, Rose wouldn't have been surprised. Then there was Rachel and Vince, deep in conversation.

Rose looked at the food and put some oatmeal into her bowl. It was the good, cinnamon kind and Rose was kind of excited to eat it. What could she say? She had her dad's appetite. Rose took a bite and it was delicious. How did the house elves at Hogwarts do that?

"You should try the apple turnovers," suggested Star. "They are **delicious**."

"Okay!" agreed Rose. She tried one and went to heaven. Okay, not quite but the house elves really did make everything perfection.

"The pancakes are good too!" chimed in Rachel before turning back to her conversation with Vince. Rose happily ate some of everything near her. Everything, the whole day seemed perfect. Rose heard giggling behind her. She turned her head to find some Slytherin first years looking at her while whispering and laughing.

_They're probably looking at Scorpius, _Rose decided._ After all, he is sitting with "the enemies." _Rose thought she heard them say her name but they were probably just naming who he was sitting with. The whispering Slytherins flew out of her mind after that because the owls had arrived.

Rose strained her eyes and tried to see if the barn owl she had sent with her note last night had arrived. She couldn't tell, there were too many barn owls to be sure. She wondered if her parents wrote back right away and if the barn owl was that fast. Before too long, the owl landed in front of Rose and started eating some of her bacon.

"Hey, that's my bacon!" Rose watched the meat disappear into the owl rather resentfully. Shrugging, she just piled more onto her plate. "Thank you for bringing my letter!" she thanked the owl. "You can have some more bacon but only because you did such a great job, okay?"

Rose opened the envelope. Before reading her letter, she looked around at everyone else. Albus and Scorpius also had letters from their family and Rose was amazed they could read through their half closed eyes. Star was reading the Daily Prophet while Rachel and Vince continued to talk. Rose knew that Rachel probably didn't have a letter because her dad could see her any time anyways. As for Vince, Rose wasn't nosy enough to ask how come he had no letter. Maybe he had one the day before?

Dear Rose,

I'm glad you're having such a great time at Hogwarts! I'm proud of you getting into Ravenclaw, the hat actually thought of putting me there too! It's great that you already love it there so much. I'm so proud of you Rosie! Of course my wonderful and intelligent daughter is top of her class! I miss you and love you! Don't worry, I wasn't good at flying either. I'm glad that you're making friends and I don't mind who, as long as they're nice. Write back soon, we miss you here!

Love you,

Mum.

P.S. Don't listen to your father.

**Dear Rose,**

** Ravenclaw isn't too bad. As long as you didn't get Slytherin. Speaking of Slytherin, you made friends with **_**Draco Malfoy's son? **_** I brought you up better than that! I can't believe it. Maybe Malfoy is a bit less bigheaded if he's admitting that he was wrong and we were right but still. As for your flying lesson, flying isn't that bad. There's nothing to be scared of. If ever you fall off, the flying coach will just cast a spell to cushion your fall. There's really nothing to be afraid of! Write back soon, we miss you here, Rosie Posey!**

**Always the #1 man in your life,**

** Dad.**

Dear Rose,

Yum! The cookies were so good! Tell the house elves thank you for me! It's actually really boring without you here… Being an only child really is poopy. It's so boring and I try to invite friends over but still. They can't come over every day. So most of the time, I have nothing to do and no one to bother. So boring! I can't wait to go to Hogwarts! I'm so bored out of my mind here! Forget all the times I said how annoying you were and how I wish you didn't exist, okay? Mommy and Daddy bought me a real, proper racing broom! They felt bad that I was all alone with nothing to do all the time. It isn't one of those really nice ones but I love it! By the way, I see Mommy and Daddy both forgot to mention that Crookshanks isn't dead yet.

In misery,

Hugo.

Rose smiled and shook her head. That was her little brother. Well, and her parents too. She checked the time and hurriedly wolfed down the last of her food. _Time to go to class, _Rose told herself in a singsong voice.

The day passed uneventful until the class after lunch. _Herbology,_ Rose checked her schedule. _Great, I'll get to see Uncle Neville!_ _Hey, Rachel is in this class too!_

Rose spotted long, tangled light brown hair. It was covering a yellow and black scarf with a yellow sweatshirt. It could be only one person, Rachel. Rose ran to catch up yelling, "Rachel! Wait up!" Rachel turned around and grinned.

"Hey Rose! I love autumn…" They both looked around. The air did have that autumn vibe to it, that little, sort of fresh chill. "I wonder how weird it'll be with my dad teaching me…"

Rose laughed, "At least you know the teacher will like you?"

"Well, I hope he likes me, I'm his daughter!" Rachel exclaimed with a chuckle. The two walked in companionable silence. The silence wasn't because they had nothing to talk about, in fact, they had so many things to share. The two enjoyed the nature and comfort of the grounds though and just savoured the moment. "You know Rose, I really like Hogwarts."

"I do too," Rose agreed. The two friends shared a happy look and entered the herbology greenhouse 1. They chose side by side seats and Star, as well as some of Rachel's Hufflepuff friends, joined them.

"For those who don't know me, I'm Professor Longbottom, head of Gryffindor house," Uncle Neville started. "Many people, and many of you, think that Herbology is a useless subject. That is false. Herbology can be such a useful subject, if you pay attention and use your knowledge wisely. Did you know that plants were used as weapons in the battle of Hogwarts? Aurors need to ace Herbology and does anyone know about the Triwizard Tournament we had here at Hogwarts one year back in your parents' time? Well, there are challenges the three, well, there were four, champions must compete in. Harry Potter himself had to use Herbology in one of the challenges. Herbology, being so underestimated, surprises an opponent and can gain you the upper hand. They may have made the mistake of underestimating it but you shouldn't. In my second year at Hogwarts, the Chamber of Secrets, if anyone knows about it, was opened. Students were petrified by a terrible monster and the only reason we got them back was because of what? Herbology." Uncle Neville paused and let his students absorb the information. Rose was amused to see that many students sat up straighter and seemed much more interested in Herbology than they were merely moments ago.

" We're going to start pretty basic. Today's class, we're going to be planting pods for the Moonflower. Can anyone describe a moonflower to me?"

Rose and Star's hands both shot into the air. They looked at each other and each raised an eyebrow while they both tried to make their hand reach a little taller than the other's. Professor Longbottom looked amused and even like he was stifling laughter. He gave an apologetic shrug to Rose and called on Star.

"Well, as most plants, it has a long green stem. Then it splits into usually around 7 pieces and on the end of each of them, there's a glassy looking orb. The orb changes colors according to moods. The bottom orbs represent its mood and the higher or middle orbs represent the mood of the people around it."

"Excellent! Ten points to Ravenclaw. Has anyone heard of moon necklaces?" Longbottom paused as he saw some hands come up. "Well, the idea of those came from Moonflowers. Muggle ones don't work though, of course. You're each going to plant your own Moonflower and throughout this term, we'll care for it and watch its growth. Begin!" He waved his wand and instructions appeared on the little blackboard in front.

Rose worked to dig the stubborn and frozen dirt out, as the Moonflower preferred the dirt frozen but quickly defrosting. The greenhouse was quite humid. Rose felt like she would be swimming in sweat by the end of the class, if she wasn't already. She carefully put the seeds in at the exactly right angle. Rachel seemed to be whizzing through the class. She was well ahead of everyone else. Star, on the other side of Rose, seemed to be doing much of the same as Rose. She was gritting her teeth and working hard, but exact.

Rose finally covered the dirt with holy water and plopped back into her chair. Who knew planting could be such hard work? One thing Rose really didn't like about Herbology was that you couldn't see how you did right away. You couldn't tell what you did wrong and what to change. You had to wait forever. What could Rose say? She was an impatient person.

On Rose's right, Rachel was long done and reading a book on, who could've guessed, plants. _Rose!_ Rose chided herself, _Don't be bitter and annoying because she's better than you at Herboloogy! You aren't the best._ _I wish you, well, I mean me, didn't have such a huge ego._ To Rose's other side, Star sprinkled the last drops of her holy water cautiously then sunk into her chair also. She was all dirty, covered in dirt and some sweat. Rose was sure she looked the exact same way.

"Okay! Everyone, time up! Come here to wash off your hands and face. Before you do though, please _gently _place your pots on this shelf here. Gently, gently. _Walk slowly!_" Rose covered her mouth with her hand so her Professor wouldn't see her laughing. He looked absolutely horrified as a Hufflepuff boy tripped and nearly smashed his pot but saved it at the last minute. Rose placed her own pot with her name engraved into it on the shelf. She hoped her plant turned out fine. Imagine if she did all that work to have done a simple error and messed it all up?

Rose went to clean herself up and was immensely glad when there was cold water. In fact, Rose didn't think she'd ever been this happy to see freezing water. Except maybe that time when she got that second degree burn but anyways. At least now she knew never to threaten to flush Hugo's toy cars down the toilet again…

Rose shook her head to clear her thoughts. She was getting carried away. She grabbed her belongings and started to head towards the door. Had they been dismissed? She couldn't remember…

"Rose," called Uncle Neville. He looked worried. "Can I have a word with you?" Rose turned around and walked to Uncle Neville. Rachel, always having been a curious one, walked to her father also. "Well, Rachie, I guess you better hear this too.

"Rose, you know that your father and mother both played an immense role in the downfall of Voldemort, right?" Rose nodded. "Rachie, even I did cut off the head of Voldemort's snake. There are some people here whose parents were great supporters of Voldemort. Take Scorpius and his father. Unlike Scorpius though, some of them had family thrown into Azkaban and a lot of terrible consequences when Voldemort died. Some are still bitter.

"First of all, you can't listen to what people might say about you two. Albus also. Especially Albus. Anyways, you girls should also be careful. I'm not saying anything bad will happen to either of you but some nasty seventh years might hex you," Neville warned. "Just keep your chins up and don't take what they might say to heart."

"Yeah, yeah," Rachel shrugged. "Of course. We know better than to listen to them."

"You too, Rose?" Uncle Longbottom inquired anxiously.

"Yeah! I'm good," Rose tried to keep a light-hearted tone. Is that what the Slytherin girls were talking about this morning? Were they talking about her? Rose didn't want enemies and she didn't want to have to worry about them. If anyone triedto hex her… They'd be sorry.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur. Rose was just trying to concentrate on her class as much as possible but her mind wandered to Uncle Neville's warning. Each time, Rose pushed her thoughts away. It just wouldn't do to do badly in school. Rose was relieved to get out of class and into the Great Hall for dinner.

"Mashed potatoes!" Star exclaimed and almost flew to the table. Star almost liked her food as much as Rose and her father. Rose sat down besides her friend and dug in. Soon, the two were surrounded by the rest of the crew. Albus and Scorpius discussed quidditch and which positions they'd like to play. Star and Sam listened in, both trying to figure out how exactly quidditch was played. Rachel and Vince were talking between themselves yet again. Laira, on the other hand, was showing off her more anti-social side and drawing on the table.

"You okay?" Scorpius mouthed to Rose. Rose just smiled and shot him a thumbs up. Albus started explaining to Star and Sam the game of quidditch and Scorpius leaned across the table to speak to Rose. "You seem preoccupied."

"I am," Rose told him about Uncle Neville's warning. She finished, "I don't want to be hexed."

"Hey, don't worry!" Scorpius playfully pushed her shoulder. "If they hex you, I'll hex them right back! You gotta get back up. Then kick them in the shins."

"Nice," Rose chuckled. "Good idea. I will keep that in mind."

"I'm full of great ideas," buffed Scorpius jokingly.

Rose rolled her eyes and asked, "Got any other words of wisdom for me?"

"Yes," Scorpius joked in a sincere tone. "It starts without questioning the answers."

Tap. Rose felt her shoulder get tapped and then tapped again. She turned around to a Slytherin girl. She looked like some kind of eleven year old beauty queen. Okay, maybe not but she looked good. Rose subconsciously touched her own frizzy, dry hair.

"Wh-who, erm, are you?" Rose stuttered out.

"I'm Lyra. That's not the point though," Lyra looked at Rose accusingly. "Is it true you said you didn't want to fly because you weren't some trollish, dirty, caveman Slytherin? I understand that some people are a little prejudiced against other houses but this is going a little far with the house hate, isn't it?"

"I didn't say that…" Rose protested to Lyra's sceptical expression. "Who would have said tha-"

Rose looked at the Slytherin table to find a bunch of first years speaking amongst themselves and glancing back at her. Then her eyes found Libby, glaring at Rose with hostile eyes and what Rose's father would have called a Malfoy smirk.


End file.
